Saturday, November 22, 2008

Sunset Magazine's Fuyu Persimmon Bundt Cake

Containing fuyu persimmons, walnuts, golden raisins and lots of spices, my co-worker called it "Fall on a plate"

This is a Sunset Magazine recipe classic. (For those outside the Western U.S. states, Sunset Magazine is a gardening, lifestyle, cooking, home, and travel mag for those "living in the west." It's not pretentious and has some really good tips for West Coast gardeners who get all confused when looking at a pack of seeds and read "plant after first frost." What frost?) You can find a bunch of yummy recipes on their website!

And one of the perks of working in the library? I have a backlog and index to Sunset! I found a bunch more persimmon recipes from the 1970's and 80's! This recipe is from the Oct 1978 issue of Sunset. The article "Spicy cake flecked with persimmon" says the crisp (fuyu) persimmon is gaining in popularity! The Crisp Persimmon Cake recipe was submitted by E.F. of Palo Alto, CA.

The recipe for the Fuyu Bundt Cake is on the California Fuyu Grower's Association (CaliFuyu) website (I want to become their spokesperson and promote the delicious fuyu!) Get this super easy recipe here!

3 cups chopped fuyu persimmons (see this post for the difference between the fuyu and hachiya persimmons). The recipe says to add 2 teaspoons baking soda to the fruit and set aside. I've never seen this method before...does it help the baking soda dissolve? Anyone know?

I thought the finished cake looked a little, well, plague-y. I thought about dusting it with powdered sugar but then I saw my bottle of maple syrup and made a glaze of powdered sugar (about 1 cup) and maple syrup.

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comments:

Wow, that looks delicious with the chunks of persimmons inside the spiced bundt cake. I love how the batter looks.. could you please teach me how to incorporate flour into wet ingredients and make it look mixed without being overmixed?

Perfect, perfect timing on this post - I found some decent fuyus at Costco (way out here in CT), but I can't find my old photocopy of this recipe anywhere! Back issues of Sunset - what a great job you have. Thanks for posting!

Mmmmmm, I absolutely LOVE fuyu and have been going through fuyu withdrawals lately (they are in season right now in Japan) until I found one at my supermarket a couple of days ago and had a mini feast! I'm definitely going to have to try this recipe!

You are one of my favorite bloggers in the whole wide world! This bundt cake looks absolutely AMAZING! Thanks for sharing and your descriptive pics are lovely as usual. I love the deep brown color of the cake. I am going to get some coffee and have a slice!xoxo!

I'm an East Coaster born and bred (well, my parents were both from Ohio) but I'm an avid fan of Sunset's recipes. My copies of Favorite Recipes and Favorite Recipes II are well thumbed and splattered. My chocolate chip cookie recipe and my banana bread recipe are both Sunset - and I've never found better versions of either one! This bundt looks delicious (and not at all plague-y!)Nancy

Do you by any chance have access to actual back issues of Sunset? I'm trying to locate one that has my picture in it (from when I worked there). It would be probably second half of '89 or first half of '90. Any ideas on how to find out.

I like your blog and the idea of baking from scratch. I've been adopting some new recipes myself, for healthier eating. All the best!

do you have access to a Sunset recipe for the soft mounded-style choc chipo cookies that were so popular in the 70's? The dough was shaped with an ice cream sccop and refrigerated before baking, leaving soft, high, mounding cookies.

Looks great will try it in two days Am on a persimmon kick . My friends cat is sick w kidney disease and has been eating a concoction of persimmions and gelatin( cooked) all week Shes doing much better Guess who's planting a persimmon tree?